Feed-cooler.



I. E. JOSEY &

R. C. MILLER.

FEED COOLER.

APPLlCATlON FILED AUG. 14, I914.

Patented July 6, 1915.

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'Attomegs COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH C0., WASHINGTON, D c.

FEED-COOLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 6, 19115..

Application filed August 14, 1914. Serial No. 856,852.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JACKSON E. JosEY and RUDOLPH C. MILLER, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Beaumont, in the county of Jefferson andState of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFeed-Coolers; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to driers, and more especially to those havingvertical shafts; and the object of the same is to produce a machine forcooling and drying molasses feed, hot grain, or any granular feedsubstance or material containing heat or moisture or both.

This object is carried out by feeding the material downward through anupright stack or cylinder from which the hot air, steam, and moisture isexhausted at intervals, and providing means throughout the length ofsaid stack for concentrating the material or forcing it inward from thewall of the stack toward the center and retarding its descent, and thenagitating or beating it so as to throw it again outward against the wallof the stack. A typical machine for carrying out this idea isillustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein- Figure l is a verticalsection of our improved machine, Fig. 2 a horizontal section on the line22 of Fig. l, and Fig. 3 a plan view of one of the beaters or agitators.

Referring to the drawings by reference numerals, 1 designates an upri htcylinder or stack of suitable height and dimensions and properlysupported by means not necessary to illustrate, and the numeral 2designates the inlet chute from an elevator or other source, while 3 isthe outlet from the lower end of this stack. Throughout the length ofthe latter extends an upright shaft 4: mounted in a step bearing 5 atits lower end and in asuitable bearing 6 overhead, and rotary motion maybe imparted to the shaft by means of a pulley 7 or otherwise. Fast onthe shaft at the upper end of the stack and preferably at a point justabove the inlet chute 2, is a fan 8 by means of which heat, moisture andsteam from the elevator head and from the materialas it enters thecylinder is extracted or drawn; and this fan may be called the primarymeans for removing the heat, moisture, and

steam-even that portion of it which is drawn over from the elevator-asit is taken from the material while it is passing through the chute 2and in fact before it really reaches the point within the stack where itis acted on by the mechanism yet to be described.

Without the necessity for going into details, it may be readilyconceived that various materials require different treatment before theycan be thoroughly dried. We may assume that the material is sticky,moist, cohesive and steaming hot; or We may assume that the mass islumpy, granular, stringy, or almost or possibly not quite fluid.Numerous and various conditions such as these will obviously requiredifferent treatment, and we would not therefore be limited to the heightor diameter of the stack, nor to the number of elements yet to bedescribed and of which but four are shown in the drawings. It isessential to the successful operation of our invention, however, thatmeans be provided just beneath the outlet end of thechute 2 for firstconcentrating the mass or gathering it from the sides of the stack andmoving'it inward toward the bore or aXis thereof, and just beneath thesemeans other means for beating, agitating, and dis tributing the massagain, so as to move it from the axis of the stack outward against thewall of the same. Means must also be provided for admitting regulatedquantities of cool air to the mass, and extracting the heated airtherefrom in such manner that the volume of the mass itself may not bedepleted. We prefer to carry out these means in the following manner:Around the stack at a suitable point are formed air-inlet openings 10,and around the stack over said openings is mounted a sleeve 11adjustable vertically by anysuitable means as by set screws 12 so thatit may be set to uncover the openings 10 to their limit or to partly oren tirely close them. Just beneath each series or ring of air-inletopenings 10 as described, the stack carries a hopper 13 whose wallconverges inward and downward to a point near the axis of the stack andaround the upright shaft 4. Mounted fast on said shaft at a pointbeneath the outlet end or the mouth 14 of each hopper is an agitator orheater l5 seen in plan view in Fig. 3 and comprising four arms radiatingfrom the hub. At a suitable point in the wall of the stack and beneaththe hopper 13 is'an outlet llltl opening 16 of considerable size, fromwhich opening a pipe 17 leads to a suction device such as a'fanindicated at 19. This group of elements is repeated throughout thelength of the stack, and in the illustration herewith four such groupsare shown although as above described a greater or lesser number may beemployed according to the requirements of the case and the nature of thematerial being treated.

In action the material is fed into the chute 2 and falls through itsoutlet end into theupper end of the stack, and in the act of falling theinitial fan or suction device 8 withdraws the heat, moisture, and steamwhich may have been brought over from the elevator. Falling into' theuppermost hopper 13, the material is checked in its descent throughoutthe stack and is concentrated or caused to move downward and inward intoand through the mouth 14 of this hopper, whence it falls directly ontothe beater or spreader '15 and by means of the latter it is again tossedoutward against the wall of the stack and disintegrated. Meanwhile Icool air has been admitted through the inlet openings 10, regulated insize by setting the sleeve 11, and hot air or steam is withdrawn throughthe outlet 16 and pipe 17 at a point close up under the hopper 13 andyet above the point where the beater or agitator 15 would cause thematerial to again strike the wall of the stack. Inorder that thematerial falling through this course may not clog the air inletslO,short hoppers or baflle rings 18 are secured within the wall of thestack just above the air-inlet openings 10, and these also by preferenceincline downward in substantial parallelism with the walls of thehoppers 13 as shown.

It will be found that various moist and heavy materials while in a hotcondition can be fed into and treated within a stack of this character,and will be delivered out its outlet 3 in a dried condition withpractically all if not actually all the moisture and heat removedtherefrom. It may be that different materials will require adjustment ofthe air inlets, or substitution of other forms of agitators or heaters15; although this matter may be left to the foreman in charge, bearingin mind that in the initial installation of the machine, considerationwill be had of the material which it was intended to treat. e would not,therefore, be limited to the proportions and materials of parts, andreserve the right to make such changes as come within the spiritof thisinvention.

What is claimed as new is K 1. The herein described drier comprisingan'upright stack with means for feeding material to its upper end andtaking material from its lower end, and within said stack a series ofinstrumentalities whereof each includes means for retarding the dcscentof the material and concentrating it near the axis thereof, and othermeans immediately beneath for agitating and beating the material andtossing it radially outward, means for admitting cool air above and eX-tracting hot air beneath each of said concentrating means, and a primaryheat-exhausting element at the upper end of the stack.

The herein described drier comprising an upright stack with means forfeeding material to its upper end and taking material from its lowerend, and within said stack a series of instrumentalities whereof each includes means for retarding the descent of the material and concentratingit near the axis thereof, other means immediately beneath for agitatingand beating the material and tossing it outward, the stack having aseries of inlet openings above each of said concentrating means, asleeve adjustable to regulate the size of these openings,the stack alsohaving hot-air outlet openings immediately beneath said concentratingmeans and above said heaters, and bafile rings within the stack justabove said inlet openings.

3. The herein described drier comprising an upright stack with means forfeeding material to its upper end and taking material from its lowerend, and within said stack a series of instrumentalities whereof eachincludes means for retarding the descentof the material and moving itfrom the wall of the stack toward the axis thereof, other meansimmediately beneath for agitating and beating the material and tossingit outward against said wall, the stack having a series of inletopenings above each of said concentrating devices. a sleeve looselysurrounding the stack and adjustable vertically to regulate the size ofthese openings, hot-air outlet openings immediately beneath saidconcentrating means and above said heaters, and means for initiallywithdrawing steam from the upper end of the stack.

4. The herein described drier comprising an upright stack having meansfor feeding material into its upper end and taking material from itslower end, an upright shaft extending along the axis of said stack, aseries of beaters fast on said shaft at intervals, a series of hopperscarried by the wall of the stack and with their walls converging fromsaid hopper-wall downward to their months which latter stand just abovesaid boaters, the wall of the stack having a series of cold-airinlet-openings just above said hoppers, baffle rings above theseopenings, hot-air outlet-openings beneath said hoppers, and means forapplying suction to the last-named openings.

5. The herein described drier comprising an upright stack having meansfor feeding material into its upper end and taking material from itslower end, an upright shaft extending along the axis of said stack, a series of beaters fast on said shaft at intervals, a series of hopperscarried by the wall of the stack and with their Walls converging fromsaid hopper-wall downward to their months which latter stand just abovesaid heaters, the wall of the stack having above each hopper a ring ofco1d-air inletopenings, means to regulate the size of the same, and ahot-air exhaust-fan mounted on the upper end of said shaft, for thepurpose set forth.

In testimony we afiix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

JACKSON E. JOSEY. RUDOLPH C. MILLER. Witnesses: I

W. M. 011001;, G. M. CHIsoLM.

G'opies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

